Film treating tank with hydraulically driven film spools



7 Feb. 19, 1952 w SMITH 2,586,444

J. FILM-TREATING TANK WITH HYDRAULICALLY DRIVEN FILM SPOOLS Filed Jan. 9; 1947 2 SHEETSSHEET 1 John Wes leg ksmi U1 L M-Y ATTOANEYS Feb. 19, 1952 J. w. SMITH- 2,586,444

FILM-TREATING TANK. WITH HYDRAULICALLY DRIVEN FILM SPOOLS 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 Filed Jan. 9, 1947 ATTO'R EYd Patented Feb. 19, 1952 FILM TREATING TANK WITH HYDRAU LICALLY DRIVEN FILM SPOOLS John Wesley Smith, Norristown, Pa., assignor to Philadelphia Air Transport Company, Conshohocken, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application January 9, 1947, Serial No. 720,973

This invention relates to a tank for the treatment, such as development, fixing, washing or other chemical treatment, of photographic film.

Effective and uniform development of photographic film, and to a lesser degree other chemical treatments thereof, require agitation to provide relative movement between the film and the treating liq-uid. Developing tanks of the types generally used by amateurs are capable of handling at best only relatively short lengths of film and usually require agitation of the tank as a whole to secure the proper relative movement of the film and treating liquid.

One object of the present invention is the provision of a tank of the type indicated which is adapted for the handling of long or short lengths of film and also for handling films of various widths running, for example, from 16 millimeter film up to such Wide films as are used for aerial photography or the like, including the larger size films commonly used by amateurs.

' A further object of the invention relates to the provision of a tank in which the film is alternately reeled on two supporting spools, reversing of the reeling operation taking place automatically. In the preferred form of the invention the reeling operations are powered by water jets such as may be readily produced using ordinary water supplies. By the use of such jets high surface speeds of movement may be secured with resulting uniformity of treatment of even quite long films. The invention provides automatic reversal of operation by selective movement of a nozzle to direct its driving jet against the buckets of either of two water wheels.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention particularly relating to details of operation and construction will become apparent from the following description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the tank with the cover removed and with parts broken away to show details;

Figure 2 is an elevation with portions of the wall of the tank and cover broken away to show interior parts;

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken on the plane indicated at 3-3 in Figure l Figure 4 is a section through the movable nozzle taken on the plane indicated at 4-4 in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a section taken on the plane indicated at 5-5 in Figure 3; and

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 1 but i1- lustrating a modified form of the invention,

7 Claims. (01. 24255) 2 Reference will be made first to the modification illustrated in Figures 1 to 5, inclusive. The tank formed.of stainless steel orother suitable sheet material which is resistant to the action of photographic chemicals is illustrated generally at 2 and is of elongated shape such as is suitable to provide for the use of a minimum amount of liquid consistent with the proper mounting and motion of the film. This tank is provided-with a light-tight cover indicated at 4 provided with inner and outer flanges 6 and 8, respectively, to form a light trap. An opening H3 is provided for filling and emptying the tank and may take the form of a nipple as indicated on which there may be forced the end of a piece of rubber tubing through which the liquids used in the treatment may be introduced and drained. An overflow-pipe I 2 opens through the bottom of the tank and serves to limit the amount of liquid in the tank and to advise, by the presence of overflow, of the proper filling of the tank.

A pair of spindles l4 and 16 are journalled in tubular bearings l8 secured in the bottom of the tank and passes through these bearings to be supported'in step-bearingfashion by engagement of their lower ends with transverse straps of metal 20 and 22which provide also supportfor the tank. Centering of the spindles is maintained by having their lower reduced and rounded ends pass through opening in strips 24 secured to the straps 20 and 22. The spindles l4 and I6 carry pins 26 and 28 engageable in openin s in discs 30 and 32 for the purpose of keying these discs to the spindles. The discs carry hubs 34 and 36, respectively, which are provided with radial slots having wide portions 38 and peripheral narrow portions 40 for securin the turned ends 42 of a film 44 which'is to be treated. By replacement of the discs and hubs by others of suitable hub thickness, it will be evident that a large variation of sizes of film may be handled by the tank. As illustrated, for example, for the 16 millimeter film spools illustrated, similar spools for other size films may be substituted, for example, for 35 millimeter motion picture films or roll films of various sizes such as are ordinarily used. Desirably, though not necessarily, top discs 46 and 48 may be provided to lie on the tops of the hubs, providing film reeling spaces. The discs 30 and 32 forming the lower flanges of the spools have sheet metal guideways 50 secured to the lower sides thereof for the guidance of slides 52 which have upstanding ends 54 projecting across the film-receiving space. When film is wound on 55 one of the reels it engages the end 54 of the cor the jet from the nozzle M.

responding slide and by its tension pulls the slide inwardly so that its outer end does not project beyond the periphery of the disc 30 or 32. On the other hand, when the film is unreeled-the slide 54 is free to move outwardly under centrifugal action thereby effecting automatic results as will be described hereafter.

Journallcd on the bearings l8 are levers 55 and 58 having upturned outer ends adapted to be engaged by the slides 52. These levers 56 and 58 are joined by springs 60 and 62 to an arm 64 carried by the cook 66 of a reversing valve rotatable in a housing 68 provided with a nipple 10 for hose connection to a water supply. The cook 66 is bored as indicated at 12 to provide a nozzle 14 which is movable between the ends of an enlarged opening 16 in the housing 68. The movement of the cock is limited by having its rectangular shank carry a member 8!), the ends of which have limited movement in slots 82 formed in the housing.

A pair of water wheels 84 and 86 are provided with buckets 88 and 96 on which may impinge These wheels are secured to the respective spindles l4 and i6.

The operation of the tank will be apparent from the foregoing description. The tank is adapted to be placed in a sink provided with a drain for the driving water and chemicals which may be drained from the tank or which may overflow therefrom. By connecting the nipple in to the water supply a jet is produced driving one or the other of the water wheels depending upon its position. Assume first that the jet is directed as indicated in the drawings to impinge upon the buckets 96 of the wheel 86. Under such conditions a clockwise rotation of both of the spindles-occurs to effect winding of the film on the right-hand reel and unwinding from the lefthand reel. So long as film remains wound on the left-hand reel its slide 52 is retracted so as not to engage the lever 56. When, however. the film is completely unwound. which event is illustrated in Figure l, the slide 52 is thrown outwardly by centrifugal force and is then in position to engage the upturned end of the lever 56 im artin to it an impact to the left as viewed in Figure 1 which. by applying tension to the spring Ell, will cause the valve to be snapped counterclockwise so that its jet will then impinge on the buckets 83 of the left-hand wheel 84. Immediately the direction of rotation is reversed and reeling occurs on the left-hand reel with movement between the reels toward the left as viewed in Figure 1. As soon as sufiicient rotation has occurred to cause the film to enga e the upturned inner end 54 of the slide 52 the slide will be withdrawn and hence will thereafter miss the upturned end of the lever 56. As a consequence, counterclockwise rotation of both reels will continue until the film runs off the right-hand reel (of course, without being released from the holding slot therein) whereupon the right-hand slide will be efitective to strike the lever 58 again shifting the nozzle so that it will direct its jet to the right-hand wheel. The result is automatic substantially instantaneous rever'sal of the reels with high speed travel of the film from one to the other under ordinary domestic water pressures. A very high relative movement of the film and liquid thus occurs and reversals take place at such short intervals for ordinary lengths of film that substantially uniform development or other treatment will result. As will be evident, liquids may be substituted in. the tank without removal of the film so that, for

4 I example, a film may pass through the successive operations of development, washing, fixing and final washing by mere replacement of the liquid in the tank. In particular, for purposes of washing, the filling tube may be connected to a running water supply and continuous circulation maintained through the overflow tube l2.

A somewhat simpler construction for controlling reversal is illustrated in Fig. 6. Looped resilient wires 92 and 94 embrace fixed hubs so as to be free to rotate thereon. Upturned ends 96 and 98 of these wires are engageable by slides 52 such as heretofore described. The inwardly directed ends of the wires engage the downturned flanges H14 and I06 of a member I05 secured to the nozzle cock I92. By reason of their resilience these spring members provide a cushion effect equivalent to that of the springs 60 and 62 in the construction first described. A cushioning action is desirable to prevent breakage of the film at the time of reversal since, if the reel from which unwinding is occurring were caused to stop, by impact with a fixed and non-resilient member, the sudden tension applied to the film by the inertia of the reeled portion of the film might cause breakage.

It will be evident that numerous variations in the specific embodiments of the invention may be made without departing from the scope thereof as defined in the following claims.

What I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A photographic film treating tank comprisin a pair of rotatable film-carrying elements, means for securing the ends of a film to said elements, selective hydraulic driving means for said elements comprising a pair of turbine wheels mounted within said tank and associated with the respective elements, and means for reversing the direction of drive by said turbine wheels when the film is unwound from one element upon the other, the last mentioned means including an element selectively movable to cause a jet to be directed to one or the other of said wheels.

2. A photographic film treating tank comprising a pair of rotatable film-carrying elements, means for securing the ends of a film to said elements, selective hydraulic driving means for said elements including a turbine wheel driving each of said elements, and means for reversing the direction of drive when the film is unwound from one element upon the other, the last mentioned means including a nozzle selectively movable to direct a jet to one or the other of said wheels.

3. A photographic film treating tank comprising a, pair of rotatable film-carrying elements, means for securing the ends of a film to said elements, selective hydraulic driving means mounted within said tank for driving said elements, and means for reversing the direction of drive when the film is unwound from one element upon the other, the last mentioned means comprising a centrifugally operated element associated with each film-carrying element and controlled by convolutions of the film so as to be released when the film is unreeled from the corresponding film-carrying element and an element selectively movable to cause a jet to be directed against said selective hydraulic driving means.

4. A photographic film treatingv tank comprising a pair of rotatable film-carrying elements, means for securing the ends of a film to said elements, selective hydraulic driving means for said elements comprising a pair of turbine wheels associated with the respective elements, and means for reversing the direction of drive when the film is unwound from one element upon the other, the last mentioned means including a nozzle selectively movable to direct a jet to one or the other of said Wheels, a centrifugally operated element associated with each film-carrying element, and connecting means through which each of the last mentioned elements may move said nozzle.

5. A photographic film treating tank comprising a pair of rotatable film-carrying elements, means for securing the ends of a film to said elements, selective hydraulic driving means for said elements including a, turbine wheel driving each of said elements, and-means controlled by convolutions of the film for reversing the direction of drive when the film is unwound from one element upon the other, the last mentioned means including a nozzle selectively movable to direct a jet to one or the other of said wheels, yieldable means for moving said nozzle from one operating position to the other, and stops for stopping the nozzle in the proper operating positions.

6. A photographic film treating tank comprisin a pair of rotatable film-carrying elements, means for securing the ends of a film to said elements, selective hydraulic driving means for said elements comprising a pair of turbine wheels associated with the respective elements, and means controlled by convolutions of the film for reversing the direction of drive when the film is unwound from one element upon the other, the

last mentioned means including a nozzle selectively movable to direct a, jet to one or the other of said wheels.

7. A photographic film treating tank comprising a pair of rotatable film-carrying elements, means for securing the ends of a film to said elements, selective hydraulic driving means for said elements comprising a pair of turbine wheels associated with the respective elements, and means controlled by convolutions of the film for reversing the direction of drive when the film is unwound from one element upon the other, the last mentioned means including a nozzle selectively movable to direct a jet to one or the other of said wheels, and yieldable means for moving said nozzle from one operating position to the other.

JOHN WESLEY SMITH.

REFEREN CES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

